Breathing easy after roadside birth

It was the second time in a week that State Trooper Paul Gifford was called to the northbound Interstate 93 tunnel for a medical emergency. The first time, he was unable to resuscitate a man whose heart had stopped beating. This time, it was a newborn who needed help.

An expectant mother and her husband were rushing from their home in Quincy to Massachusetts General Hospital Wednesday night, but their child was born as the car approached the tunnel.

A frantic 911 call from the baby's father sent Gifford, who was on routine patrol in the nearby Callahan Tunnel, racing to the scene.

Gifford tried to remain calm, he said later, for the mother's sake. But when he reached the green sedan in the breakdown lane and saw the infant, next to the mother on the passenger seat, he knew something was wrong.

''The baby was blue," Gifford said.

The infant was not breathing, so Gifford, a former paramedic, pulled a syringe from his first aid kit and cleared mucus from the newborn's throat.

After several anxious seconds, the baby gasped for breath, and his color turned from blue to rosy pink.

It marked the end of a harrowing work week for 27-year-old Gifford, who had been called a few days earlier to the tunnel, where he tried unsuccessfully to revive a man's heart with a defibrillator.

Gifford, who two years ago left his job as a paramedic in Taunton to become a state trooper, said he faced life-or-death situations everyday as a paramedic, but Wednesday's roadside emergency was his first involving a newborn.

''It was emotional and chaotic," Gifford recalled. ''I was trying to calm everyone down, making sure the parents and baby were OK."

The baby, named Omar, and his mother, Nezha Titebah Talal, were resting yesterday at MGH, where they both were listed in good condition.

''Both the baby and I are doing well," the mother said in a written statement released last night by the hospital. ''We would like to thank state troopers as well as the ambulance crew for ensuring a safe arrival to the hospital."

Gifford yesterday expressed relief that the baby was fine, but said he was just doing his job.

State Police Major Mike Mucci praised him, saying: ''Gifford got there within two minutes. Any later and the baby's chance of survival would have been greatly diminished."

When Talal went into labor Wednesday, she and her husband, Mohammed, loaded their 2-year-old son into the family car and set off for the hospital.

They had driven less than seven miles when the baby started to emerge from the birth canal.

Mohammed Talal switched on the car's emergency lights and pulled over at the mouth to the tunnel, calling for help on his cell phone at about 6:45 p.m.

A minute later, the baby was born, and not breathing. A security camera used to monitor traffic and emergencies in the tunnel area helped State Police zero in on the family's location.

The father had told authorities that he was parked inside the tunnel, but Big Dig officials monitoring security cameras alerted police that the car actually was outside the entrance to the tunnel, saving critical seconds in the rescue.

''It really did make a big difference," Gifford said.

The grainy security video, played at a State Police news conference yesterday, shows Gifford as he arrived at the car, slipped on a pair of sea-green medical gloves, opened the passenger-side door, and leaned in.

Gifford later said he was trying to learn what was wrong from the father, but he had trouble understanding Mohammed Talal's accent and the thunderous noise from passing traffic made communicating difficult.

''The windows were open, and we were on the highway. You can't hear to begin with," Gifford said. ''I had to ask him things over and over again. I had to repeat simple questions."

But Gifford soon pinpointed what was wrong with Omar, and quickly found the syringe in his first aid kit and suctioned the mucus from the baby's throat.

''I wasn't sure it would work," Gifford said.

When Omar started breathing, Gifford cleaned him, wrapped him in a warm blanket, and placed him in an ambulance with his mother.

Gifford visited the family in the hospital later that evening, where he met the father in a hallway and checked on the baby's condition.

''I wanted to make sure nothing had changed," he said, with a chuckle last night. ''He had a big smile on his face. I told him we'd be in touch."

Gifford will be nominated for the department's lifesaving medal, State Police officials said yesterday.

''I'm certainly not here for recognition or rewards or anything," Gifford said last night.

''I'm here to do a job. I'm just glad that the baby's OK, and that everybody walked out of this in one piece. More often than not, when we go to a medical call on the highway, bringing them back isn't so easy."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com